Alexander Walker

   Ancestral File Number: 8ZC3-9C.

   General Notes:

History of Alexander Walker and Lois Knapp

Alexander Walker was born 24 March 1791 in Dana, Hampshire, Mass. His father
was James Walker, a Scotsman who came to America with the British Army in a Dundee
regiment under the command of General Burgoyne to the Patriot Army during the
Revolutionary War.
James was taken prisoner in 1777 at Saratoga. He never returned to his homeland
and in fact never rejoined the ranks of the British. He chose instead to join the Patriots
and served nearly tow years fighting for the American cause.
He later married Sarah Field and they became the parents of seven children, one of
whom was Alexander. Alexander Walker married Lois Knapp at Brandon, Rutland,
Vermont on 30 September 1808. She was born 25 January 1790 in Bristol County, Mass.,
the daughter of Nathaniel and Mary Ball Knapp.
Alexander and Lois were the parents of eight children: James H., born 17 October
1809 in Vermont; Jerome, born 24 February 1814 in New York; Jonas Ball, born 16
December 1815, birthplace not known; Alexander, born 1817 in Pennsylvania; John, born
4 December 1819 in Washington County, Ohio; Louisa, born 14 July 1822 in Washington
County, Ohio, Mary, born 4 May 1825 in Sparta, Dearborn, Indiana.
They (Alexander and Lois) are believed to have joined the LDS Church about
1839. Their daughter, Louisa, was baptized 8 December 1839. They lived in and around
Nauvoo for a few years and suffered much persecution.
Records of the Nauvoo Second Ward for 1841 show Lois living with her daughter
and husband, Louisa and Jacob Butterfield. Alexander was not with them at that time,
suggesting that he may not yet have been baptized.
A patriarchal Blessing given by William Smith to Alexander Walker is dated 23
July 1845. This blessing give a strong hint at some of what may have gone on in the life of
Alexander up to that time. It also gives one the idea that an inward struggle was still
going on at the time the blessing was given, for it says, "I lay my hands upon your head---,
praying almighty God to bless you and seal instructions upon thy heart, to remove all
ddoubts and fears and give thee His Holy Spirit to direct thee in all thy footsteps and make
known the plan of salvation, that thy way may be plain in all things before thee----so let
thy courage increase upon thee---and great shall be thy reward when thy labor is done.
Thy last days shall be thy best days and thy former afflictions shall all be forgetten---and
they who have cast thee off and persecuted thee shall come bending unto thee----."
Lois Also received a Patriarchal Blessing that same day. It too speaks of past
trials, "---thou shalt be blessed and even those things that have been thy common lot to
share in times that are past - troubles that have been thy common lot to share in times that
are past - troubles that have grieved thy soul and wrongs that have been inflicted by false
hearted treachery shall soon pass from thy memory."
Ironically, this last statement proved to be all too true, although in an unexpected
way, for Lois lived only a short times afterward. Her death was reported in the Nauvoo
Neighbor on 11 August 1845, but the exact date of death was not stated. She had died of
bilious fever, an illness which claimed the lives on many early Saints.
Alexander returned to Indiana after the death of his wife and lived near his son,
Jerome. He worked for a man named Squire Knapp, a wagon maker and farmer. He also
lived with the Knapp family, who were, no doubt, some of his wife's relatives. The 1850
census of Washington Township, Ripple County, Indiana lists Alexander Walker as a
laborer.
Whether Alexander left the Church after Lois died or just lived away from the main
body of the Saints, we know not. Unfortunately, no one told his story while he or any of
his children lived. The fact that he lived with someone other than his own children could
mean that it was they who had rejected him but this is something we will have to wait
awhile to find out about.
A distant Relative said that Alexander died near Milan, Indiana in about 1856 and
was buried in the Blaisdell Cemetery. Milan is in Ripley County, where he had been living
since he left Nauvoo.

Retyped by John Shaw - September 1998.

Alexander married Lois Knapp, daughter of Nathaniel Knapp and Mary Ball, on 30 Sep 1808 in Brandon, Rthldg, VT. (Lois Knapp was born on 25 Jan 1790 in , Brstl, MA and died about 11 Aug 1845 in Nauvoo, Hncck, IL.)